New Moon: Integrated Amp and Streaming DAC from Simaudio
imaudio’s well-earned reputation for delivering musical bang for your bucks is on full display with the company's new additions to its long line of Moon performance audio products -- the 700i v2 integrated amp (top, $14,000) and 780D v2 streaming DAC ($15,000). The most interesting aspect of the new products is the separation of analog and digital responsibilities. While every other manufacturer seems intent on jamming as much digital capability as possible into their integrated amps, Simaudio has preserved the 700i v2’s resolutely analog status. Firmly aimed at achieving high-end performance from a compact solution, it offers a single set of balanced connections alongside four single-ended inputs and a rated output of 175Wpc into 8 ohms -- a figure that doubles into a 4-ohm load. The 780D v2 occupies a slim-line version of the 700i v2’s casework, allowing the units to stack, providing a full suite of digital functionality to feed the amplifier’s analog inputs without suffering the all-too-frequent musical compromises that come when DACs and amplification cohabitate. With all of the required inputs to run multiple modern digital sources (including file replay to 32 bits/384kHz and DSD 256), the 780D v2 is both Roon and MQA compatible, and it supports multiple streaming services (most notably Tidal Masters, Deezer Hi-Fi and Qobuz Sublime+). Is offering an integrated amp without
digital inputs viable or even sensible? The answer is, Yes -- absolutely; at
least it is whenever musical performance is the first priority. The
Moon 700i v2 in combination with the 780D v2 is no larger than some of the
digital integrated solutions available, and if the company lives up to past performance, they certainly threaten to match the versatility and
eclipse the musical attributes of the one-box competition. |
